With humanitarian needs on the rise, all humanitarian agencies should be increasing resources to help vulnerable rural communities caught in the crossfire. NRC has been calling on the Government of Colombia and United Nations to do more to reach out to those who need it most. Today, Colombia is home to the world’s third-largest internally displaced population, surpassed only by DR Congo and Syria. On the contrary, the situation is worsening with more persecution, deaths, displacements, lack of state presence and more armed groups,” said Jorge, a civilian who was recently caught up in armed clashes in the southwest region of the country. “After the commitments made five years ago, nothing has improved in our communities. This is one of the main reasons why on average, two community leaders have been killed each day since the signing of the peace agreement. Many local communities tell NRC that they feel frightened, as rural areas formerly held by FARC-EP are now largely dominated by other non-state armed groups who fight over control of illicit activities. The violence is also a direct consequence of the government not moving fast enough to guarantee the permanent presence of Colombian institutions in hard-to-reach zones after the FARC-EP’s withdrawal. As a result, mass displacement almost tripled this year compared to 2020. Now is the time to scale up, not down, humanitarian support to Colombia,” said Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC).ĭespite a peace deal signed between the Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) on 24 November 2016, armed violence persists across the country. For them, peace is still a distant dream. “There is nothing to celebrate for the hundreds of children, women and men in rural Colombia who flee their homes every day to escape armed violence.
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